Indian mobile sector hit by licence worries

A fresh wave of regulatory uncertainty over licences engulfed India's fiercely competitive mobile phone industry on Thursday and sent shares in some operators reeling.

A scandal involving spectrum allocation that a government audit said may have cost India $31 billion led to the sacking of Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja at the weekend and has turned the spotlight on companies which received spectrum.

Meanwhile, India's telecoms regulator has recommended to the government that it cancel 38 telecoms licences because the operators did not meet rollout obligations, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.